Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus)
A research team has found that
fully grown Galapagos penguins who have fledged or left the nest continue to beg their parents for food, and sometimes, parents oblige and feed their adult offspring. It seems that humans are not alone in continuing to support offspring who have "left the nest."
"Through field seasons over the years when we were observing penguin behavior in the Galapagos Islands, we saw these isolated instances of adults feeding individuals who had obviously fledged and left the nest," said University of Washington biology professor Dee Boersma. "And now we've collected enough field observations to say that post-fledging parental care is a normal --
though probably rare -- part of Galapagos penguin behavior."
In a paper published online in
The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, the team led by Boersma, who has studied Galapagos penguins for more than four decades, reported observing five instances of post-fledging parental care during detailed field observations of wild Galapagos penguins from February 2006 to July 2015. Newly fledged adults, called fledglings, are about 60 days old and sport a distinct appearance due to their lightly colored feet and cheeks, as well as a relatively new and spotless coat of adult plumage.
